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Archive for August, 2012
Extreme summer heat linked to climate change, scientists say
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on August 6th, 2012
LA Times: Exceedingly high summer temperatures, longer summers and related catastrophes, such as wildfire and drought, are poised to be the norm, and they are driven by climate change, according to a new research paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In an opinion article over the weekend in the Washington Post that previewed the findings, the paper's lead author, James E. Hansen wrote: "It is no longer enough to say that global warming will increase the likelihood...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Extreme summer heat linked to climate change, scientists sayUnited Kingdom: Putting a price on the rivers and rain diminishes us all
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Guardian: 'The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying 'This is mine', and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, 'Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Putting a price on the rivers and rain diminishes us allMidwest Fish Kills Exacerbated By Record Heat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
National Public Radio: This summer, extreme heat and drought have brought on larger than normal "fish kills" throughout the Midwest. Fish are dying by the tens of thousands. All Things Considered host Audie Cornish speaks with Aaron Woldt, Fisheries Program Supervisor for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Midwestern Region, about what's happening in these waters.
World Bank unveils carbon incentive plan in Philippines
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Agence France-Presse: The World Bank said on Monday it plans to buy carbon credits from pig farms in the Philippines, helping farmers generate extra income by setting up environment friendly waste treatment facilities.
Under the program it will finance the installation of such waste treatment systems that will capture methane gas from pig manure which could be used to generate electricity, thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
The World Bank's Carbon Finance Unit will buy carbon credits from farms that instal...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on World Bank unveils carbon incentive plan in PhilippinesHansen Study: Extreme Weather Tied to Climate Change
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on August 6th, 2012
Climate Central: Extreme weather events, such as the heat waves that have broiled the High Plains and Midwest this summer, smashing thousands of temperature records, are a direct consequence of global warming, according to a new study led by prominent climate scientist, James Hansen of NASA. The study seeks to reframe how people view the links between manmade global warming and extreme weather events, going farther than ever before in making direct ties between the two.
The study by Hansen, who first warned of...
U.S. to allow restart of Enbridge’s Line 14
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Reuters: Enbridge Inc plans to restart on Tuesday a pipeline that leaked more than 1,000 barrels of crude onto a Wisconsin field after receiving the greenlight from U.S. regulators.
U.S. pipeline regulators last week issued Enbridge a corrective action order, calling for measures to be taken before it would allow the resumption of flows along Line 14, which was halted after a leak was discovered on July 27.
The Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said...
Climate change blamed for heatwaves
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
New Scientist: Another week, another row about blaming climate change for extreme weather events. A top climate scientist now says that the 2010 Russian heatwave, and last year's Texas drought, were both the result of global warming - and the current US drought probably is too.
James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and colleagues compared global temperatures between 1981 and 2010 to the cooler climes of 1950 to 1980. Extreme warming events, when temperatures were more than...
Rise in Extreme Heat Events Linked to Climate Change, Study Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: A new NASA study has found that extreme heat events are far more likely to occur than five decades ago, a phenomenon that researchers link to climate change. In an analysis of long-term statistical trends, a team of researchers led by James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies describes how “extremely hot” summers -- defined as abnormally high mean summer temperatures that affected less than 1 percent of the planet’s land area between 1951 and 1980 -- have become far more routine...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Rise in Extreme Heat Events Linked to Climate Change, Study SaysUnited Kingdom: Cuts to Scotland eco-farming schemes could mean species loss, RSPB warns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Guardian: Scotland faces the loss of some of its most vulnerable bird species and habitats after ministers cut environment spending on farmland by £25m, a senior conservationist has warned.
Stuart Housden, the Scottish director of the RSPB, said ministers in Edinburgh were risking legal action by the EU after "raiding" the budget which was intended to conserve corncrakes, rare orchids, peatbogs and flower meadows in the face of modern farming techniques, climate change and habitat loss.
Despite the heavy...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Cuts to Scotland eco-farming schemes could mean species loss, RSPB warnsCrop data gives drought-stricken farmers a leg up on getting by with less
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Guardian: The device keeping disaster away from Glenn Cox's farm in this summer's devastating drought could well be the laptop on his kitchen counter.
A few keystrokes and eventually his painfully slow dial-up connection pulls up graphs tracking temperature and moisture levels from his corn and peanut fields.
The real-time feed gives Cox an advantage over farmers across a vast swathe of the mid-west who are preparing to give up on their crops.
It's taken away the guess work. He knows where to water,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Crop data gives drought-stricken farmers a leg up on getting by with less